When dealing with plumbing problems in the home, the bathroom is the most common place to have them. It’s the most concentrated point of of the plumbing system in many cases: the spot where three or four outlets at the minimum occupy a very small piece of space. And it sees heavy use every day. It’s the first place you visit when you get up in the morning and the last place you stop at on the way to bed at night. When problems arise there, they can bring your household screeching to a halt very easily. Keeping an eye out for trouble in your bathroom can be a good way to stop problems before they start.
THERE ARE VERY FEW SMALL PROBLEMS
Some problems with your bathroom plumbing have fast and simple solutions. We’ve all dealt with the unpleasant task of fishing a hairball out of the shower drain, for instance, or unclogging the toilet with a plunger and a little elbow grease. That can often lead us to assume that any problem can be handled ourselves. In point of fact, most bathroom problems require a trained plumber to properly solve, and attempting to apply do-it-yourself solutions to them is apt to cause more harm than good.
Take the issue of clogs, for instance. A store-bought cleaners or snake is intended to handle a clogged shower or bathroom sink, but buying over-the-counter means getting a solution that is designed to partially treat a wide array of clogs. That means the same methods are applied whether it’s caused by hair, toothpaste or even a child’s toy thrown down the drain. And because the store-bought solution only addresses the problem in a general way, the clog can quickly re-form just a few weeks or months later.
A professional plumber, on the other hand, can used specialized tools such as motorized snakes with rotating heads to properly take care of the clog. That way, it won’t come back as soon as you blink, and if you can determine what caused it in the first place, you can take steps to ensure that the same clog doesn’t crop up again!
KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR ANYTHING STRANGE
Few bathroom plumbing problems arise in a vacuum, and chances are that a plumbing issue in your bathroom will demonstrate symptoms before they make the outlet in question unable to be used. Some of them are obvious – if you see water flowing across the bathroom floor, there’s probably an issue – but others can be quite subtle. Generally speaking, you should watch for anything out of the ordinary in your plumbing. Specific signs can include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Slow Drains. Drains that remove water slowly or not at all can indicate a leak or a clog.
- Odd Sounds. The sound of running or dripping water may mean a leak somewhere you can’t easily spot.
- Low Pressure. Problems in the water pipes can reduce the pressure of your bathroom faucet or shower.
- Running Toilet. A toilet that keeps running, or runs for excessively long periods of time – even after you jiggle the handle – is usually in need of a look.
Here in Hillsdale, NJ, resolve bathroom plumbing problems by calling BZ Dependable Plumbing & Heating Inc.
